Timeout for Nature – and for Art!

“Relatively few people know why an artist acts in this way or that . . . . A peasant who sees me draw an old tree-trunk, and sees me sitting there for an hour, thinks that I have gone made, and of course laughs at me.” (Van Gogh letter to brother Theo)

The Ospreys were calling! How could I ignore their distinct aerial cries? A decision awaited – continue dicing the onion or dash to the window? Trading knife for camera, I dashed to the window!

Not one but THREE Ospreys patrolled the airspace just past the treetops! The magnificent brown and white raptors careened and spiraled on unseen currents of air. A sleek streamlined Frigate joined them, then another. I gazed toward my abandoned work, and an Osprey screeched again!

One raptor landed in a tree by the water. Snail Kite or Osprey? It was time for stealth mode. My field bag, still packed from yesterday’s outing, contained everything I needed – except for paint brushes, overlooked the day before. Adding a bottle of guayusa tea and a handful of fiber-rich crackers, I headed to the rain-soaked outdoors!

The landscape transformed almost overnight after the life-giving rains returned. Some days the gentle rains stay all day; sometimes the rain falls hard during the night, and the mornings begin with a lazy residual drizzle. Rejoicing a month ahead of last-years weather calendar, birds are molting and nesting and chattering throughout the day – and sometimes the night!

After confirming the Osprey, I settled into yesterday’s bird-watching location and turned my attention to a nearby Common Tody Flycatcher’s nest. (A second day of reference photos will ensure a successful watercolor study.) Selecting a nearby tree trunk as an easy model for drawing, I propped my stool against a twisted guava tree, leaned back and sketched while watching the cast of birds.

There’s so much here; can you spot the wispy nest of the flycatcher?

(What a delicate nest!)

Common Tody Flycatchers

Working outdoors on drawings or paintings presents challenges: how to balance pencils, pads, paints and containers of water while keeping the camera within reach. Mosquitoes and ants often protest about the human’s intrusion on their turf. Spiders explore an arm or shoulder until they are directed elsewhere. Those spiders and their webs play important roles in the health of the neighborhood, but – ahem – move along little spider! Sometimes an obscure little insect parades across my paper; the proportions of this particular one made me smile:

Sun evaporates watercolor washes as fast as they’re painted; sweaty arms affect the paper. The sun turns to clouds, the clouds to mist, and mist to sprinkles. The approaching roar of incoming rain usually gives a three-minute warning. With no obvious wind, it sometimes seems to come from nowhere, and sometimes it vanishes as quickly as it appeared. If I’m painting there’s the decision to stop and protect the work – or ignore the approaching rain (gamble) and keep working!

The greatest challenge, however, is to remain focused on my work when immersed in wrap-around nature! This happened yesterday: “What bird just zoomed past? A hummingbird – but what WAS that bird? Not one I’ve seen before!” Not moving my torso, I slowly reached for the camera, turned it to my left and snapped several shots in the direction of the perpetual-moving machine. Si? No? I’d check later, as the bird vanished as fast as it appeared.

(A second mystery bird appeared at the house and allowed many good reference photos. Anyone out there know what this might be? Some branch of the Amazilia lineage?)

For the next few hours, the petite Tody Flycatchers performed nest-building gymnastics while I juggled sketching and birdwatching. Using dried leaves, they wind and stitch the pendulous nest with delicate threads of spider silk. Pacific Horneros worked on their oven-shaped nests. Snail Kites landed nearby to feast on a just-snatched snail from the water hyacinths below.

A rich-chocolate female Seedeater foraged along a vine-draped tree trunk. Two Pacific Horneros worked on their unique oven-shaped nest, while honey bees and butterflies inspected a vivid splash of yellow wildflowers.

Twice my attention veered to the distinct KERSPLASH in the water behind me, and twice I twisted to confirm — Osprey!

I realize now why my studio-gallery at Casa Loca worked so well; with no windows, I could work all day and/or all night, and never be distracted. At this new location, my greatest challenge – or perhaps it’s a gift – is deciding which interest to pursue. Perhaps that strange little insect can teach me how to observe the perimeters of my visual circle while paying attention to what’s close at hand!

“…it’s nature that I feed on. I exaggerate, sometimes I make changes to the subject. Nevertheless, I don’t invent the whole picture – on the contrary I find it ready made in nature but in need of unraveling.” – Van Gogh/letters to Theo –

Thank you, and thank you for your continued support – even when I am silent! You’ve had a very full year, juggling work and family matters – and still you produce so many great images and share them with us! Happy New Year!

Yes, I am very lucky, but you also have a lovely retreat where you have your own immersion in nature… it’s surely a tonic – not only on bad days but also on good ones — to make it even better! Happy new year to both of you!

To be out in the garden feels like being in our own patch of heaven. Even though it is only small it makes me happy to be in it. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be to live in your paradise surrounded by nature

Ha! I went down there yesterday around 11 for a few hours.. at 4-something the strong winds picked up — ‘Earth to Lisa – storm is approaching!” and I scampered home just ahead of the rains!
Happy new year to you and your sweet family – and all of those wonderful birds and animals you share with us!

The wind tried to blow it to Argentina yesterday! Rains were right behind the unexpected wind, so I grabbed my things and went to the house.. It rained today so i’ve not checked on the birds today.
Happy new year Emilie, and thank you so much for your continued and genuine support!

Awww….. and I am not letting go of Christmas yet. Some traditions permit celebrations until Candlemas, so I am going to join in the spirit of an extended Christmas (without the excess food consumption!).

What an amazing world to wrap around yourself. It’s a wonder you ever get anything done. My place isn’t half so distracting yet I find concentration hard. I can feel the joy it gives you, Lisa. Long may you continue to embrace it. 🙂 🙂 Happy 2019!

Happy New Year to you too, Lisa. The “problems” of your new place are wonderful. (I love the Tody Flycatchers on their nest). Your descriptions bring back happy times I’ve spent in tropical locations – the instant rain, so many moving targets vying for attention….and it’s fun to see familiar faces too – that’s a Monarch butterfly, right? And the osprey is an old friend. Remember the days when DTT decimated them in the states? We were thrilled to discover an osprey nest on a Georgia coast island back in the early 60’s, but as the decades went by, they became more and more common everywhere I’ve lived. They’re here in the Pacific northwest, right over in the bay just minutes from home, and they’re back east too, of course. Here’s to many sightings, many artistic projects, and a fortunate New Year.

This really amused me: “The approaching roar of incoming rain usually gives a three-minute warning… If I’m painting there’s the decision to stop and protect the work – or ignore the approaching rain (gamble) and keep working!” In my case, if a front’s approaching and the wind suddenly lays, I have an hour. If the sea-fog’s blowing and the wind doesn’t lay, it’s all good. If the wind stops, my work’s ruined. And so on. Learning to read the signs is so important — and aren’t we happy when we’re right?

Here’s to a new year of successful sign-reading and productive work. It’s always a joy to see what you’re up to, and who’s keeping you company in your (mostly) idyllic world.

I thought of you yesterday – several hours into painting after exploring and setting up… and a big wind picked up and blew horizontal/ straight in from the lake… the bamboo i was painting was difficult to see; the flycatchers’ nest was swaying – and cecropria leaves bending… I kept painting then stopped asap… by the time I made it up the hill, the far side was getting rain. Inside the house, small leaves had blown in thru the windows…

The winds had been very variable earlier, and I wondered, “Tropical wave somewhere out there|?”

Thank you. Winter has been like Spring, confusing the trees and plants but after a late afternoon thunderstorm today we’re going down to freezing temps. Like a true Pittsburgh January. Thanks for the good wishes for 2019.

Fortunately our kitchen window is right above the sink. Spotting nature is easier.
To actually see a kite ‘sitting’ still is totally amazing Lisa. We see them in flight often circling around and close to us usually in twos. They are hunting like the hawks and other birds of prey seen locally.
Always fabulous photos and articles!!! Welcome to 2019!
with love, Eddie

Those kites are very noisy as well, and the juveniles look much like the ospreys. The Snail Kites eat almost nothing except for snails, which are quite large and forage on the water hyacinth.
I hope that your 2019 is a great one; thanks, as always!

Next to the onions I saw what appear to be Brussels sprouts. How strange, I thought, for those to be in Ecuador. Then I realized it was no more strange than for them to have found their way from Belgium (presumably) to the United States. So many of our common foods originated elsewhere.

Hi Steve! Forgive me for being so late in answering your comment. |Yes, those are Brussels sprouts, called Col de/del Bruselas, I think. I’m using the public wifi outside of the grocery where |I buy them, so will check the spelling/name if they are in stock today. The company grows them in the Andes. Will give an update when \i know more! \Perhaps it won’t take so long!